Wheaton, Ill. – Augustana, ranked 22^nd in this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 poll, edged the host Wheaton Thunder 59-57 on Wednesday night in King Arena. Wheaton is now 8-11 on the year and 4-6 in CCIW play, while Augustana improves to 16-4 overall with a 9-2 CCIW record.

Thunder sophomore Aston Francis led the hosts with 19 points. Freshman Jake Mlagan scored 11 points with seven rebounds and two assists off the Thunder bench. Sophomore Luke Peters tallied eight points with two assists and two blocked shots.

Wheaton jumped out to a 12-4 lead over the first 8:20 of the game. The Thunder never trailed in the opening half as the hosts led 32-27 at the halftime intermission. Mlagan and Francis each scored nine points as the duo combined to tally 18 of Wheaton's 32 points in the half. Jay Spencer led all players with nine rebounds, and he blocked two shots.

The Thunder held a 39-35 lead with 13:21 remaining in regulation when Augustana's Crishawn Orange converted an old-fashioned three-point play that sparked a 10-0 run for the Vikings as Augustana led 45-40 with 10:34 remaining in the game.

Augustana led 54-47 with 6:45 remaining in the game when Francis made a three-pointer to cut the Vikings' lead to 54-50. Augustana scored a basket on its next trip down the court to increase its lead to 56-60 with 6:25 left in the game. A pair of free throws by Francis with 5:15 left in the game trimmed the guests' lead to 56-52.

The Wheaton defense held Augustana scoreless over the next 1:15 and with 3:30 remaining in the game; Jay Spencer grabbed a Wheaton miss and delivered a key basket on the offensive rebound to cut the Vikings lead to 56-54. A layup by Orange with 2:45 remaining in the game gave Augustana a 58-54 lead. A shot attempt by the Vikings was blocked by Trevor Gunter; with a rebound collected by Peters and Francis drained a three-pointer to cut the Augustana lead to 58-57 with 1:13 remaining in the game.

Ricky Samuelson blocked an Augustana shot with 1:02 remaining in the game, but the Thunder turned the ball over with 39-seconds remaining on its ensuing possession. An Augustana shot clock violation with eight seconds remaining in the game was followed by a Wheaton turnover. Orange was fouled by Wheaton with 1.6-seconds left in the game and he made the first of two free throw attempts to increase the Vikings' lead to 59-57, however, his second shot missed and was collected by Spencer. Wheaton took a timeout with 1.3-seconds left in the game, but Wheaton was unable to get a shot attempt off as the Vikings escaped with the narrow win.

Wheaton shot 33.9% (19-of-56) from the field, including 21.1% (4-for-19) from three-point range. The Vikings had a 36.1% (22-of-61) field goal percentage in the game, with a 27.3% (3-for-11) effort behind the three-point arc. The Thunder tallied an 83.3% (15-of-18) effort at the free throw line and Augustana shot 63.2% (12-of-19) at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the guests 45-36 and the Thunder had a 12-10 edge on the offensive
glass.

Orange scored 21 points to lead the Vikings, shooting seven-of-nine from the field and he seized four steals. Dylan Sortillo scored 13 points with seven rebounds. Brett Benning scored nine points with six rebounds and Jacob Johnson grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.      

The Thunder will host Elmhurst on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in King Arena.